Summer Fun 2016

Summer of 2016 was a busy summer, with scout camps, youth camps, wrestling camps, merit badges, summer classes and the occasional weekend trip.  But, it's a good busy!  We appreciate more and more that it takes a village to raise a child and are grateful there are good leaders, scouters, neighbors, family, coaches and more, who care about giving our boys good experiences.

While Spencer has been away from home for weeks at a time to scout camps and the like, he has usually been with some family.  This summer he went to a wrestling camp in Idaho. He completely enjoyed it, but it was a little weird for his mother, who wondered about his doings and whereabouts most of the week.  When I picked him up from a concluding river raft trip, I discovered that the most shenanigans he got into had to do with PopTarts and soda.  At least that I know of.

Bob Ross was a fun discovery for the boys this summer.  We found YouTube videos of Ross's painting episodes, and besides falling into a calm, serene paint coma, the boys were completely amazed at accomplished 30 minute creations, with exclamations of "how did he do that. . . and in 30 minutes?!?!"  So when I saw this t-shirt for sale at Khol's I knew it belonged at our house and DJ was the lucky recipient.

Grandpa and Grandma Wheeler gave the boys a "Pass of All Passes" for Christmas, so we tried to get to as many venues as we could.  Seven Peaks water park was one of those venues and we visited  twice, once by ourselves and once with the Wheeler and Watson cousins.

James and Devin chill for a few seconds in the tubes before they headed off to another slide.

Uncle Jed decided it would be a good idea to put the tubes together and roll the kids down the hill.  It's too bad he thought of this at the end of our visit, otherwise I think they would have done this all day.

We have been vigilant sunscreen/shirt wearers, but we must have put sunscreen on DJ too soon before getting in the water.  He came out "done" after being at the water park.  While staying at Grandpa and Grandma Wheeler's house, to give Mark a stay cation, I lathered him up in aloe vera and he went around shirtless while it dried.  While shirtless, he had to strike a few poses, of course, though I'm not sure why he chose the rocking horse to strike a pose on.

And if one boy is shirtless, all have to be shirtless. . . and flexing.  Can you believe I gave birth to these people?

During Mark's stay cation (a quiet house in which he could do whatever he pleased because everyone needs a break once in a while), we visited the aquarium in Draper and loved it! I love nature and living things - just amazing!

I discovered a new fish - the snarl tooth blondie!

Because Grandpa and Grandma were away, they gave us their tickets to see the 24th of July Mormon Tabernacle Choir tickets.  The boys were very kind to indulge their mother and I think they actually enjoyed the concert.

We were really looking forward to filming Spencer after having his wisdom teeth removed, but the surgeon must have taken pity on his patients because he kept the patients in a room until he ok'd them for release, thereby preventing embarrassing footage.  He did send them with this lovely facial ice pack to help with the swelling, so this picture will have to do for embarrassing footage, as well as the short video that Mark took of Spencer trying to say "aaahhhh. . . " 

Every year we plan a trip to Eden, UT, for a relaxing weekend of movies, games, swimming and other activities that happen to tickle our fancy.  Our tradition is to go to the Chinese restaurant formerly known as Maple Garden (which is what I will always call it despite any owner turnover) before we head up to Eden.  It was of course as delicious as Chinese food usually is, but since it was a day after wisdom tooth surgery, Spencer was particularly grateful for cold beverages.

I made a mistake reserving the condos we usually stay at, and after trying to get into a condo that was not our and even on the wrong property, we finally figured out my mistake and had a new adventure at a new property.  The condo we stayed at this year had a mini gold course and we were able to play in-between rain storms that weekend.  We also watched all four of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, though we probably could've stopped three and had not missed much.  It is always a great recharging weekend for us, to just be together and have fun.

An always notable day in August in Granna's birthday! To celebrate her life, we make her dinner and peach cobbler, which she looks very pleased with, and we are pleased with her!  She has a great smile, so I loved that I got this picture of her.

After the Tour de Cure, we continue to train for a bike ride that  benefits the Davis Education Foundation and is seven miles longer than the Tour.  On our training circuit, we pass Centennial Jr High, which is the bane of Spencer's and DJ's existence (because it's new and preppie and the students are supposedly over-indulged), so we thought we'd text them a picture to help them overcome their prejudice.

My Dad and our neighbor Jackie Smith, rode with us in the Man of Stihl ride and we were happy to have them along!  It was a great ride and finished off our biking exploits for the summer!

A busy, but good summer and fun, learning, exercise and relaxation!